telesilla

Why I tried it: Still on my quest for a good masculine scent that I can wear. Also Helens78 tried it and sent it to me. In the bottle and wet: Bay rum and something that smells like almonds. Drying down: Still almondy. Does Bay Rum usually smell like almonds? Dry: The almond scent is gone and it's just a lovely, spicy, slightly sweet Bay Rum. It's a much nicer Bay Rum than I've smelled before; I really really like it. And man has it got a serious throw on it. I think I need a bottle of this, because it's really quite yummy. Later: Oh hell yeah. It's spicy and most of the sweet has disappeared ... it's just very lovely. It'd smell great on a guy.

Why I tried it: Helens78 passed it on to me after she didn't like it. In the bottle and wet: Cedar and a touch of vanilla. Drying down: Cedar, vanilla and sassafras. I'm liking it. Dry: This is a wonderful scent. The sassafras adds a nice little tang and the vanilla keeps the cedar from being too dry. This is a good smell, masculine but just offbeat enough to be different. I think it's a keeper. Several hours later: It's morphed into almost pure vanilla on me. While it's a good vanilla, it's not at all masculine any more. I think it's going in the swap tin.

Why I tried it: Again with the interesting sounding notes. In the bottle and wet: Chcolate. Smells more like dark chocolate than white to me. Drying down: Chocolate and freshly mown grass. Really. It's a weird combo, but not utterly without merit. Dry: It actually reminds me of a grassy, powdery version of Freak Show. I kind of like it, but not enough to track down yet another LE.

Why I tried it: Hoping for another grown up fruit scent. In the bottle and wet: Peachy and floraly. Drying down: it's very light, but still mostly a sort of floral peach scent that I really really like. Unless this gets really weird on me, it's a keeper. Dry: Sadly it fades kind of fast. This might be worth putting into a perfume spray; I like it that much.

Why I tried it: I love the lab's apricot and I wanted to see if I could deal with the patchouli. In the bottle and wet: Yup, apricot and patchouli. Drying down and dry: A very very earthy apricot. I like it, but not as much as March Hare and I already know that Nancy's not gonna like the patchouli note. Oh well.

Why I tried it: Name association plus mmmmm ... leather. In the bottle and wet: Leather and smoke. Dry: Still smoky leather; the way a leather jacket worn by someone who smokes. It's not all that pleasant but ... bear with me because I'm going to get a little geeky here. Talk about instant character identification. This is exactly what I think one of my not very nice protagonists smells like; it'd be even more like him if you layered it with a little scotch. Even though he's a jerk, I may keep it just for that reason. Also wouldn't you know ... it's got one hell of a throw on it.

Why I tried it: This was one of the Carnival Noir scents I was considering, so when I saw an imp up for sale, I nabbed it. In the bottle and wet: Chocolate! Drying down: Fruity chocolate. Dry: The chocolate fade to an undernote and I can pick up the vanilla along with the fruits. I like it a fair amount but I'm not sure it's something I'll order, seeing as it's an LE and we're already too addicted to LEs around here. A little later: I dunno. This is really really growing on me, now it's sweet, but a nice complex fruity sweet. The individual notes have all blended into something I really want to make mine. *sighs*

Why I tried it: Dude, it's Cthulhu. As long as there wasn't rose in it, I had to try it. In the bottle and wet: Another green aquatic. Drying down: it's a little like Belladonna or The Apothecary without whatever it was in those that made them smell like bandaids. I'm also getting a slight salty note like the one in Jolly Roger but it's nowhere near as intense. Dry: It kind of smells like that bath stuff that came in the green plastic bottle that Mom used to use. I'm pretty sure it was Badades. (later) Yup. It's Badades. I can't pick out any individual notes, but it's a nice fresh slightly sweet green scent -- the saltiness died down. Which is fine, except I don't think I want to smell like my mom as much as I love her. Into the swap tin it goes.

Why I tried it: The last in the series of masculine/gender neutral scents that I picked up in an eBay lot. In the bottle and wet: Bay rum and wood. This is a guy smell to me. Dry: It's totally a pirate scent; leather and Bay Rum and the wood of the deck and sea spray ... makes me want to watch PotC again. I'm not wild about it on me, but I might just bat for the other team again if I got close to say, Liam Neeson, Jason Isaacs or Sean Bean while they were wearing this.

Why I tried it -- Chaos and gender neutral! Why not? In the bottle and wet: Fruit! Once it gets on my skin I smell melon among the fruit. Drying down: still a sort of green melony fruit scent. No spices or floral yet. Dry: The floral is coming out more and maybe a hint of some sort of sweet spice? I'm finding it a rather happy scent, not chaotic at all. I like it, but then I'm learning that I like almost all of the fruity scents. Who knew? I think one of the flowers is jasmine but in this blend it smells good on me, so yay for that too. Not sure it's a big bottle, but the imps a keeper. However, unless it did something very different on a guy, I can't think of too many guys who would like this one, so again not with the gender neutral on me.

Why I tried it: In spite of my hesitancy in trying anything with patchouli in it -- hey I remember the '70s and I've been to Grateful Dead shows -- the other notes on this one sounded too good not to try. In the bottle and wet: Peach and patchouli, but the patchouli is just a little earthy and not overwhelming in that Dead Head way. Drying down: The peach smells a tiny bit artificial, which is kind of disappointing. Dry (a few minutes later): OK not so artificial. I think I'm getting what people refer to as a "creamy" note. It's not milky in any way, just smoother than a plain peach scent would be. Dry: There's more of a bite now and I'm catching a little bit of resin from the amber but it's still mostly peachy. Unlike Swank, it's not something I think I'll want to wear in the summer, but I can see putting it on when it's cold and feeling summery. If that makes sense. Final thoughts: It's like March Hare and Swank in that it's another adult fruit scent. I know that Beth's big thing is supposed to be the rose blends, but I think she's quite good at fruit blends as well. It's a keeper, dunno about the big bottle list yet.

Why I tried it: I love me some amber! In the bottle and wet: Amber and carnation. It's an interesting mix and I kind of like it. Drying down: The amber's fading and the carnation's coming to the front. Not smelling the apple blossom or the myrtle. Dry: It's gone more floral than I expected and I can hardly smell the amber. It's just kind of powdery and not very ambery at all, which considering it has five different kinds of amber, is a bit disappointing.

Why I bought it: Chinese zombies, man. How could I not? Plus I'm all about the citrus and the sandalwood. In the bottle and wet: Orange! This smells like something really familiar but I can't put my finger on it yet. Some kind of candy maybe. Drying down: The orange and the mango are stronger than the sandalwood. It's a really "bright" fruit scent, not very sweet but somehow sunny, if that makes sense. Dry: It's still mostly about the sharp mandarin orange, but I think the musk is mellowing it out some. I'm still not getting sandalwood, which is odd because my skin loves sandalwood as a rule. It's sharp and bright and oddly upbeat. If this is about zombies, they're happy fun zombies that are damn cheerful while they eat your BRAAAAIIIIINSSSS! Or I dunno, maybe Chinese zombies don't eat brains. Regardless, I'm keeping the imp although I'll want to try it a few more times before I decide if I need a big bottle.

Why I bought it: Given the lab description and the name, I had to get this one. And there's the fact that my mother the librarian makes a mean Irish coffee. In the bottle and wet: thick coffee with cream and a lot of brown sugar. Nancy gets the Irish, but I don't smell anything boozy. Drying down: Still creamy sugared coffee, with an odd off note that smells a little like the cream used in the coffee was turning. Dry: I think the off note is the wood. Whatever it is, I really don't like it at all. Damn, I wish I'd bought Shub-Niggurath. A little later: Well the off note is mostly gone and it's back to the coffee smell, but as good as this smells in the bottle, I really don't like it on me that much. I don't know if it's too foody or what.

I'm giving some of the traditionally masculine scents a try because I've liked men's cologne in the past. In the bottle and Wet: Sandalwood and amber. Dying down: Still sandalwood and amber. Dry: It's sort of a soft woody amber; I can't smell the musk but I think it's doing a nice job of blending the woods with the amber. It strikes me as being a little sweeter than any of the boys I write about might wear. Well, except it's an earthy sweet, so maybe Viggo. Anyway I really like it and I might even need to get a big bottle.

I thought I'd try this because I like the violet in Morgause so much. Oddly enough, in spite of the name it's not listed as a masculine scent. In the bottle and wet: I smell sandalwood, which is odd as it's not one of the listed notes. Drying down: It's getting a little more resinous, but I'm still smelling something woody with a faint violet undernote. And there's very little cinnamon. Dry: I think the cinnamon is starting to show, but the frankincense is still overpowering both it and the poor violet. It's not really working for me, it almost seems as though it clashes with itself on my skin; it can't decide if it wants to be floral or spicy or resinous and so it's just confused.

Once I realized I liked dragon's blood; I added all the Ars Draconis that don't have rose in them to my list. In the bottle and wet on me: Dragon's blood. Drying down: Dragon's blood with something almost harsh underneath. Dry: It's kind of smokey; I'm not getting much of the leather, but this definitely a masculine version of dragon's blood. I'm not sure if I like it or not and I'm not sure if a guy would like it on account of the slight sweetness of the dragon's blood. After a little more time to dry, I think I'm putting this in the swap pile. It's not evil or anything; it's just kind of meh.

This was the other imp in the circular swap that included Fire Eater. In the bottle and Wet: OMG honey! Drying down: Still mostly honey, but the gardenia is coming out. Dry: It's settled down to a honeyed floral scent. Unfortunately, I'm not getting any of the bite I'd expect from the ginger. There's also an oddly musty scent; it's not a bad smell really. Makes me think of old clothes that haven't been aired in years. I love the honey smell but I'm not all that thrilled with the florals underneath it. It does, however, make me want to try some of the other blends that have honey in them.

This is the result of being in the "Fire Eater's Honey Moon" swap circle. In bottle and wet: I'm getting dragon's blood and something sweet. Drying down: Still sweet and a little florid. I was expecting cinnamon in this and I'm not smelling it much. Dry: It's gone a little powdery on me and I think I can smell the cinnamon now, and another faint spiciness that might be carnation. It's also faintly soapy; I suspect there's some rose in it. It's not as militantly soapy as some rose scents go on me, but it's still not something I need to own.

Why it was on my list: I'm looking at the notes and I don't know if this was on my wishlist or if I got it from a friend. In the bottle and wet: Cedar. Yeah I know it says cypress but it smells like cedar to me. Very very sharp and woody. Drying down: Still quite woody. It smells like really really good sawdust on a warm day when you're MacBeath Hardwood Company in Berkeley. Dry: Still quite woody, but there's a faintly resinous quality from the frankincense. I'm not getting the hazelnut and I have no real idea what oakmoss smells like. I don't know about the oude because what exactly is that anyway? Dry later: It's smoothed down and gotten a little sweeter. I'm still somewhat undecided on it. It's not a summer scent at all and, I think I need to test it against Cathedral, before I make the call. Having done the test Cathedral still wins out. *tosses Danse Macabre into the swap pile*

Why it was on my list: I have insomnia, so yeah, 'nuff said. In the bottle and wet: Lavender and something almost lemony. This is a bad time to test this as I've been up for about 24 hours at this point and would like to have been asleep a while ago. But I'm more tired than sleepy and I'm trying to get the last of my reviews in. Drying down: Oh well. *tosses in swap pile* I don't care what other notes are going on; there's rose in here. And rose and I rarely agree.

I adore Morgause. Back in the mid 70s when I was first getting into incense, about the only brand you could find with any real ease ws Spirtual Sky. I remember being really disappointed that their violet incense didn't smell nearly as good burning as it did in the package. Morgause on me smells just like that incense did in the package. Violety and resiny and just lovely. It's on my big bottle list for sure.

Why I have it: I think this came from a bunch of imps a friend gave me. In the bottle: bubble gum, just like Athens. Wet: still sweet, but the bubble gum fades. I'm a little worried about the attar of rose, but so far so good. Drying down: It actually smells a lot like Athens, but it's a different kind of sweet without the honey. Dry later: I like it quite a bit, but I like Athens better. Oddly enough the attar or roses never did turn soapy or metallic on me. I almost wish everything with rose acted the same so I'd know. Anyway, Athens wins hands down, but this was really nice on Nancy so yay for that!

Why I have it: Another that I ended up with before I realized that rose and I don't mix. In the bottle and wet: Mmmm almondy and orange and sandalwoody. Drying down: Oh for heaven's sake, can't it give me any time at all? It's still damp and yet, it's soap. *sighs* Nancy wants to try it. Hope it works on her.

Why I tried it: This one was in an ebay lot that had other things I wanted in it. Since it's got coconut, I would never have bought it. In the bottle and wet: Coconut! Drying down: The hazelnut showed up and it was nutty coconut. It's a good coconut, mind you; it doesn't exactly take me back to the 70s and Hawaiian Tropis tanning oil. Dry later: It balanced out nicely, a blend of a sort of warm, nutty floral and -- you guessed it -- coconut. If I liked coconut, I'd probably like this.